Through legislation, the parties are seeking to support the businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic and at the same time to provide them with facilities due to the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The DIKO submitted two bills of law. The first proposal postpones the deadline for the submission of a tax return of a person who keeps accounting books and records and prepares accounts audited by an independent auditor for the tax year 2020. Normally the declaration would have to be submitted on March 31, however, the bill is postponed to July 31. The same will apply to corporate tax returns. Specifically, legal entities would have to file the corporate tax returns for 2020 by the end of the month. As the rapporteur of the draft law argues, the regulations are deemed necessary due to the protracted health crisis, as well as the war in Ukraine.
Last Friday, the Decree of the Ministry of Finance was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic, extending for two more months the reduction of VAT on electricity. According to the decree, vulnerable consumers will continue to pay 5% VAT until June 30 2022. It is recalled that the VAT reduction entered into force on November 1 2021.
At the same time, according to the decree, households will pay 9% VAT from 1 March to April 30 2022.
A few days ago, the Plenum of the House approved two pieces of legislation that extend the periods during which tax breaks are granted to businesses. In particular, the imposition of an additional VAT and interest charge on certain categories of economic activity of taxable persons is suspended for the tax periods ending on 31 March 2021, 30 April 2021 and 31 May 2021, provided that the taxable person has submitted a tax return for those periods within the specified time limit and pays the amount of VAT due by 10 October 2021, 10 November 2021 and 10 December 2021 respectively. Also suspended is the imposition of an additional tax and interest charge, as well as criminal measures for the tax period that began on October 1 and ended on December 31, 2021, subject to payment of VAT in three equal instalments, on February 10, 2022, March 10, 2022 and April 10, 2022, for catering. In addition, the law on deductible expenses for investment in an innovative small and medium-sized enterprise was extended until June 30, 2024.
